Roof rail pad and method of construction

ABSTRACT

The roof rail pad is constructed to be applied to a pair of welded flanges by having a U-shaped section moved upwardly thereover and locked thereon by inwardly projecting toothlike ends. A metal carrier strip has fingers cut from the outer edges in continuous relation and formed into a channel and an extending section. The strip is coated with a thin vinyl layer and a cover material is heat-sealed to the bottom and ends of the sections. A foamed material forms a pad under the cover material on one side of the strip.

United States Patent 52/716X 156/79X 52/716X 56/716X 52/716X l56/79X 3,108,852 10/1963 Olsen 3,124,851 3/1964 Straight et 211.. 3,222,769 12/1965 Le Plae.......... 3,329,750 7/1967 Growald.....

3,371,447 3/1968 RutTet al.

3,399,448 9/1968 .I ackson......

3,401,075 9/1968 Jackson...... 3,498,626 3/1970 Sullivan........................

Primary ExaminerBenjamin R, Padgett Assistant Examiner-S. R. Hellman Attorney-Harness, Dickey & Pierce [72] inventor [22] Filed [73] Assignee [54] ROOF RAIL PAD AND METHOD OF 49/479, 52/716, 156/217, 156/244, 156/257 [51] Int. B321) 5/18, A STRACT: The roof rail pad is constructed to be applied to a pair of welded flanges by having a U-shaped section moved upwardly thereover and locked thereon by inwardly projecting toothlike ends. A metal carrier strip has fingers cut from the outer edges in continuous relation and formed into a channel and an extending section. The strip is coated with a thin vinyl layer and a cover material is heat-sealed to the bottom and ends of the sections. A foamed material forms a pad under the cover material on one side of the strip.

SHEET 1 9F 2 PATENTEU DEC 7197! ROOF RAIL PAD AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,108,338 and 3,165,793 which were assigned to the assignee of the present invention and which disclose trim strips.

RELATED APPLICATIONS Reference may be had to the application to W. L. Lynch, Ser. No. 579,402 filed Sept. 14, 1966, now abandoned for Roof Rail Pad which discloses an earlier construction over which the present invention is a substantial improvement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention pertains to a roof rail pad and the method of its production. The pad supports itself on a downwardly extending flange or flanges and provides a padded area on one side where protection is required. The pad is formed as a continuous strip from which sections of predetermined lengths are cut. The continuous strip of metal is sheared to provide adjacent fingers, alternate ones of which are offset from adjacent ones, all of which are joined together at the central portions of the strip. Alternate fingers are of greater length on one side of the strip the fingers therebetween being of shorter length. The ends of the shorter lengths of the fingers at both sides of the strip are reversely bent backwardly over the main length thereof at the time the offset fingers of the strip are moved back into alignment. The strip passes through a crosshead of an extruder where a vinyl coating is applied thereover. After the strip is coated in this manner, the section of the strip is roll formed into channel shape with the reverse bent ends extending inwardly toward each other at the top. The extended coated fingers are bent at an angle to the adjacent wall of the channel section forming an extending section.

An outer covering of decorative heat scalable material is passed along with the formed strip with a portion inwardly of the edge heat sealed to the vinyl coating at the bottom of the channel section. As the two strips are advanced, one edge of the covering strip is heat-sealed to the top inner edge of the shorter side of the channel section. Polyurethane foamable material is injected onto the unsecured side of the covering material which is then heat sealed to the top of the angular extending section. The strip is advanced through a curing oven where the material is foamed to form the protecting pad and sections are thereafter cut from the strip in predetermined lengths.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a sectional view of a strip, in perspective, showing the roof rail pad of the present invention supported on a rail;

FIG. 2 is a short length of the steel strip from which fingers are sheared by having alternate fingers ofiset from each other;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view of structure, similar to that illustrated in FIG. 2, showing some of the fingers having reversely bend ends;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2. taken along the line 55 thereof;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 6 after a vinyl coating has been applied thereover;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 7, showing the channel and angular section thereof after being roll formed, and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatical view of an assembly line of machines which practice the method of producing the roof rail pad in final form as illustrated in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A pair of welded flanges ll of a roof rail 12 and a reinforcing element 13 have a trim material 14 extended therearound and secured thereto. While the trim material may be made of cloth, it preferably is made of plastic material such as vinyl. A trim pad 15 of the present invention is secured to the trim material 14 on the flanges 11 by a channel section which is formed as a unit part thereof. The trim pad 15 is built up in a continuous process to provide a vinyl covered steel carrier 21 having a channel section 22 and an angularly disposed extending section 23. It will be noted in the present arrangement that the channel section 22 is a unit provided with securing means for retaining the length of strip to the trim material 14 and the flanges 11 and that the angular extending portion 23 is a unit in extension of one side of the channel section, the strip being self-supporting and extended to provide the desired padded area.

This strip is produced by a method practiced by the various machines illustrated in FIG. 9. The basic skeleton or steel carrier strip is formed from a continuous strip of metal 24 which is advanced from a roll 25 rotatably mounted on a support 26.

The strip passes through a stamping press 27 where fingers are sheared therefrom as illustrated more specifically in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5. The sheared strip has fingers 28 of equal length on both sides of an unsheared midsection 29 and are employed to form the channel section 22. A side 31 of the strip has alternate fingers 32 in extension of the fingers 28 disposed therebetween to form the angular extending section 23 of the strip. Alternate fingers 28 and 32 are offset from each other in order to produce the shearing operation, as illustrated more specifically in FIGS. 3 and 5. The strip 24 passes from the press 27 to a roll-forming machine 33 where the ends of the fingers 28 are reversely bent to have the ends extend over the fingers and form teeth 34. During this roll-forming operation the alternate teeth 28 and 32 are moved back into alignment with the other fingers to flatten the unsheared section 29. The roll formed section 35 with the fingers in alignment is clearly illustrated in FIG. 6.

The formed section 35 continues to advance to a plasticcoating machine 36 where it passes through a crosshead 37 of the extruder type where a thin covering of plastic vinyl material 38 is applied thereover to form the coated strip, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 7. A festoon system 39 is provided for taking up irregularities in the speed between the extruder and the remaining processing machines. The strip with the material 38 thereon is advanced through a set of rolls 41 where it is formed to provide the channel section 22 and the angular extending section 23 as clearly illustrated in FIG. 8. An outer covering strip 42 of plastic heat scalable material is fed from a roll 40 to a machine 44 where the vinyl material at the bottom of the channel section 22 is heat-sealed to the strip 42 inwardly of the edge 43 thereof. The strips advance through a second heat-sealing machine 45 which seals the edge 43 to the top edge 47 of a leg 46 of the channel section 22. The material 48 of the strip 42 is disposed in bowed relation to the leg 46 of the channel section. The strip then passes through a machine 49 where a quantity of polyurethane is delivered from a nozzle 51 onto the covering strip 42 against a leg 53 of the vinylcovered carrier 21. The strip is thereafter advanced through a heat-sealing machine 54 where an edge 55 of the strip 42 is sealed to the top inner face of the angular extending section 23, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 1.

The strip is carried by continuous shoe tracks 57 and 58 through a curing oven 59 wherein the polyurethane material is foamed to provide the padded area. The strip then passes through a cutting machine 61 from which sections of predetermined selected lengths are severed. The strip so formed has the necessary flexibility lengthwise and sidewardly to follow the joined flanges 11 at the door opening to which the strips are applied. The teeth 34 within the channel section 22 with the vinyl coating thereover provides the necessary holding force for the strip when applied to the trim material 14 on the flanges 11 or directly to the flanges.

It will be noted that the single metal strip forms the carrier for the padded rail unit with the ends of the fingers of the channel section reversely bent to form teeth extending therewithin. The extending section provides rigidity to the foam pad material and since the fingers thereof are spaced will readily conform to the shape of the wall which is to be trimmed thereby. The fabricated length is not only useful as a trim strip but also a safety strip which is well padded by the contained foam material. Since the channel section of the strip has the teeth directly formed thereon the entire length will be secured to the supporting flange whether of metal, plastic or other material. The metal carrier provides the support and flexibility to the strip with the teeth within the channel section retaining the strip on the flanges and the angular extending section backing up the foamed material which forms the protective pad.

The bowed portion of the covering strip serves as a flexible gap-filling trim to compensate for dimensional variation between the door opening and the inner edge of the vehicle door.

The entire structure functions as l) a body flange decorative trim, 2) gap hider for the inner door edge and, 3) safety padding for the roof rail area of thebody opening.

I claim:

l, The method of forming a trim strip which includes the steps of; shearing a continuous strip to have a bendable web with adjacent fingers extending outwardly from opposite sides thereof, extruding a plastic material over the surfaces of the sheared strip, shaping said strip into channel shape with the web at the bottom and with the fingers at the sides, the fingers on one side being longer than those on the other side, adhering the intermediate portion of a cover strip to the extruded plastic material on the bottom web portion of the channel strip with side portions of the cover strip extending outwardly beyond the sides of said channel strip, applying a foamable material to the portion of the cover strip which extends outwardly below the side of the channel element having the longer fingers thereon, and adhering the edge of the cover strip having the foamable material thereon to the top of the side having the longer fingers thereon to confine the material between said side and the cover strip.

2. The method of forming a trim strip as recited in claim 1, which includes the step of passing the strip through a heating oven for foaming the foamable material after the cover material has been adhered to said side having the longer finers. g 3. The method of forming a trim strip as recited in claim 2, wherein the portion of the cover strip extending outwardly below the side of the channel strip having the shorter fingers has its edge portion adhered to the top of said side.

4. The method of forming a trim strip as recited in claim 1, which includes the steps of shortening alternate fingers on the side of the sheared strip having the longer fingers, and bending the ends of the shortened fingers and the ends of the fingers on the opposite side of the bendable web to form securing teeth within the channel portion of the strip. 

2. The method of forming a trim strip as recited in claim 1, which includes the step of passing the strip through a heating oven for foaming the foamable material after the cover material has been adhered to said side having the longer fingers.
 3. The method of forming a trim strip as recited in claim 2, wherein the portion of the cover strip extending outwardly below the side of the channel strip having the shorter fingers has its edge portion adheRed to the top of said side.
 4. The method of forming a trim strip as recited in claim 1, which includes the steps of shortening alternate fingers on the side of the sheared strip having the longer fingers, and bending the ends of the shortened fingers and the ends of the fingers on the opposite side of the bendable web to form securing teeth within the channel portion of the strip. 